sabato 14 giugno 2014

Recording after recording, Giuliano Carmignola, Andrea Marcon and the Venice Baroque Orchestra have proven themselves as a winning combination. After previously triumphing in the music of Vivaldi, Carmignola discovers the almost completely forgotten repertoire of the Italian violin concerto, bridging the gap between the Baroque and Classical styles in the mid-18th century. During this time period, violin virtuosi would travel across Europe giving concerts to great acclaim. It is their music that Carmignola performs. Concerto Italiano features a selection of violin concertos by Antonio Lolli, Domenico Dall'Oglio, Michele Stratico and Pietro Nardini - all selected and performed by Carmignola and all (except Lolli) world-premiere recordings.

giovedì 12 giugno 2014

For those who are not familiar with the Bach Collegium Japan, it is an orchestra and choir founded in 1990 by their director and keyboard player Masaaki Suzuki. The orchestra is renowned as Japan’s leading period instrument players applying their historically informed knowledge of sacred baroque music and specialising in the work of J.S. Bach. The chosen venue for Suzuki’s cycle of recordings has been the Shoin Women’s University Chapel in Kobe, Japan.Suzuki really is a master of his art directing impeccable vocal and instrumental performances.

mercoledì 11 giugno 2014

This
10 CD Limited Edition was released in preparation for René Jacobs’
65th birthday on 30th October 2011 and features complete recordings for
Sony Classical and DHM combined for the first time in a truly unique
edition.René Jacobs came to fame as a countertenor and in recent
years has become renowned as a conductor of Baroque and early Classical
opera. The Kuijken brothers, Gustav Leonhardt and Alfred Deller all
encouraged him to pursue a career as a countertenor, and he quickly
became known as one of the best of his time. He recorded a large amount
of Baroque music by such composers as Antonio Cesti, d'India, Ferrari,
Marenzio, Lambert, Guédron, William Lawes and others. He also sang in
much-acclaimed recordings of Bach’s major works such as the St Matthew
Passion led by Gustav Leonhardt, which is also included in this set.More
recently, as a conductor, Jacobs has recorded numerous operas and
sacred and secular works of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. His
recordings have won numerous awards, including a Grammy Award,
Gramophone’s "Record of the Year", the “III Premio Traetta”, and
numerous European awards.Jacobs regularly conducts such orchestras
and ensembles as Concerto Köln, the Orchestra of the Age of
Enlightenment, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Freiburger
Barockorchester, Nederlands Kamerkoor and RIAS Kammerchor for
recordings and concert tours. In 1992, Jacobs was invited to conduct
the Berlin State Opera.

In the 13th century the last of the Přemyslide rulers strengthened the political position of the Czech lands within the framework of Europe. This was also a time when music flowered, particularly at the Prague courts. Several prominent minnesingers resided there, notably Neidhart von Reuenthal (1190-1240) and Tannhäuser (1200-1266). Medieval musicians, minstrels and joculators included not only love songs (#1, 2, 3) but also dance music in their repertoires. Ductia (#4) is one of the oldest preserved polyphonic dances of that time. Czech music was influenced by the love songs of the troubadours, and by that of trovères, as transmitted eastward by minnesingers. The love song Dřievo sie listem odievá (#5) and the song Otep myry mieť moj milý (#7) show these influences. At the same time Otep myry mieť moj milý combines in a remarkable way the themes of earthly and spiritual love by paraphrasing extracts from the biblical Song of Song. Two similar dance tunes of the joculatores, one of them is called "czaldy waldy" (#6) in manuscript, have also been preserved in Czech sources. Several polyphonic compositions with sacred texts (#8, 9, 10, 11) show clearly that the influence of the European "ars antiqua" could also be seen in the music of Bohemia.

Even though renowned French composer Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377) spent many years in the service of the Czech King John of Luxembourg (until the year 1346), we do not find any influences of his compositional style on Czech music of that period. Nevertheless Machaut's music, as well as that by other composers of the French "ars nova", was known in Bohemia during the second half of the 14th century. Ars nova influences can be traced in the motet Ave coronata (#14) and in the song Que est ista (#15), as well as in the student song Compangant omnes iubilose (#16) and the bi-textual Christmas carol More festi querimus (#17).

No Czech secular music from the late 14th or early 15th century has been preserved. But we know that world music was cultivated in the university milieu and in educated society generally. The richness of this repertoire is represented by several works (#18–25). Delight was taken in musical puns and complexity of all types. The roundeau Vaer rouve in dander (#18) has a canon in its lower voices (tenor and contratenor). The virelai Je porte mie blemant by Donato da Firenze (#20) is preserved in three different sources, performed in succession here. A rondeau Amis tout dous (#24) by the Parisian composer Pierre de Molins exists also in two instrumental paraphrases, both known as Amis douls vis (#23 and 25), but each in a different metre. Two virelais (#21 and 22) also offer an interesting comparison, a three-voiced and four-voiced version of the same tune. Tne passionate italian temperament is evident in the ballata Poche partir (#19) by the blind Florentine organist Francesco Landini (1325-1397).

One of the towering musical figures of the 15th century was Guillaume Dufay (1400-1474), whose music represents the summation of medieval practice (L'alta bellezza tua #26) and the incipient renaissance style (Vergene bella #27). His influence is especially evident when one compares the Gloria "ad modum tubae" (#28) and the Gloria "amore dei" (#29). Both works imitate the blowing of trumpets, imitation of musical instruments as well as other sounds (e.g. Palmiger a vernulis #31) was a popular programatic device at that time. The song Modulisemus omnes (#30) reflects the style of Dufay and his contemporaries and shows characteristics of the transition to the new incipient style — Renaissance.

martedì 10 giugno 2014

Johann Christoph Pepusch (1667-1752) was probably something of a child prodigy and Ernst Ludwig Gerber records that he received an appointment as harpsichordist to the Prussian Court at Berlin by the age of 14. Regardless of this and other successes in the theatre, Pepusch was most highly esteemed in his own lifetime as a composer of concertos. Georg Philipp Telemann considered him as one of the best six German composers. As with Handel, later Germans and Britons both claimed Pepusch as their own. Pepusch is best remembered today for his contribution to The Beggar’s Opera (1728), for which he composed a fine overture. Apart from that overture, none of his other pieces had received commercial recordings until today. It is our hope that this CD goes some distance to remind audiences why Pepusch was once so highly regarded across Europe as a fine composer of inventive and dramatic concertos.

lunedì 9 giugno 2014

Jean-Marie Leclair is hardly the most typical composer from the late French Baroque: born and raised in Lyons rather than Paris, he was a professional dancer (and, indeed, lacemaker) before reaching his prime as a violinist; he spent much time out of France (including protracted stays in Turin and appointments in Holland and Spain); he became estranged from his second wife in his later years; and, most tantalizing of all, he was murdered in strange circumstances in his late sixties.

However, despite all these unusual factors he enjoyed an extremely successful career both as a performer and as a composer, with thirteen opuses printed before his death and two more posthumously. He found favour with the court of Louis XV and also worked for noble houses in The Netherlands and Spain.

It is clear from his music that Leclair was well acquainted with the remarkable violin writing of Locatelli, and the two had a celebrated contest in Germany. Certainly, there was no one else in France who matched both Leclair's virtuoso, idiomatic violin writing and his subtlety of compositional organization.